Student Peace Conference features noted scholar on revolution and terrorism

Loyola University New Orleans will host its fourth annual Student Peace Conference, an interdisciplinary summit dedicated to global peace, April 16 – 20. This year’s conference features keynote speaker Jeff Goodwin, Ph.D., a noted scholar on social movements, revolution and terrorism, in the lecture, “Understanding Occupy Wall Street.” All events are free and open to the public. A full schedule is available here.

Goodwin, a sociology professor at New York University, is currently chair of the Collective Behavior and Social Movements section of the American Sociological Association. His book, “No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements,” won the Outstanding Book Prize of the Collective Behavior and Social Movements section of the ASA. He is also the co-editor of “Contention in Context” and “The Social Movements Reader, 2nd ed.”

Peace Week aims to increase awareness and educate the community about the fragile nature of global events through student panel presentations, workshops, concerts, theatre productions and lectures from current leaders in the study of peace.

According to Anna Mueller, this year’s event chair, society is too often dragged down by the media's focus on violence, despair and atrocity. “While tragic events do indeed happen, they by no means exclude the possibility of hope, renewal and peace,” Mueller said. “As such, the Fourth Annual Student Peace Conference is Loyola's response to the current trend of community action, social protest and the universal demand for peace.”

The Student Peace Conference is sponsored by the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences, Loyola University Sociology Student Organization, Free the Slaves Loyola, the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, Middle East Peace Studies, Project Nur, Student Advocates for Gender Equality, Loyola University Community Action Program and the Women’s Resource Center.

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